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Planetfall Official Thread


Dhsu
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...sooooooo I'm guessing that was the extent of our critical analysis on the nature of man vis-a-vie Planetfall. :)

Nope.

Spoilers:

In the "From the Author" section, I was surprised to hear you label Diego as "main antagonist". I mean, I didn't like the guy, and his motives were selfish, but I think he was right in a lot of respects. It's not that he's "good", just that he's the lesser of two evils - West in my eyes was just plain evil. ...Did you phrase that Diego comment just so, as to invite people's rebuttals? ;P

Let's face it; West is basically a human version of HAL - which makes her all the more terrifying, as you know there's probably a method to her madness. The "I cannot make a mistake" vibe really rang through, even though the select messages seemed to show that EVERY DECISION SHE MADE was the opposite of what a good commander would do. And by "good commander", I mean someone who puts her crew's lives ahead of her own pride. What is this "winning" BS? Why is she putting lives at stake for some convoluted personal victory? It's all so confusing to me...

And if I may clarify a few points: some of West's choices - you know, the ones with no purpose but to annoy people, prevent them from doing their jobs, put their lives at stake, or literally sentence them to death - it seems to me that some or all of these decisions were made with the clear intent to spark a revolution. All so she could suffocate anyone who rebels, leaving only herself and those still loyal to her alive.

This was her plan since she learned only 32 could survive, no? Maybe I just made all that up, but I've seen enough movies to know a thing or two about plots of evil genius. Funny how I didn't figure it out until her VERY LAST MESSAGE though ;]

If that's the case, I have no idea how you can say Diego is the "main antagonist". It seems the chaos caused by the rebellion was just as much West's doing as it was Diego's. And I can certainly respect the "overthrow the corrupt commander" attitude more than the "ok guyz you gets to survive cuz I'm the commander and you stuck with me even though I'm a crazy psycho, k??". It was even ambiguous about that - did she even let her "loyalists" survive? The only happy ending was that the logs (presumably) got saved for future generations to learn from their mistakes (HA!)

What really ticked me off in the beginning, as what one might call a "computer scientist", was the whole "99.6%" thing. What a complete ass! =P

And I love how the guy who goes absolutely overboard threatening her is the "Counselor" :nicework:

One last thing - Eck, unusable scroll-bar! Goes against everything I was taught about interface design - and like most Microsoft interfaces, goes against plain 'ol common sense. If I would have used it for the whole story, it would have caused me great physical pain (I kid you not). Thank goodness for the mouse wheel =D

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Good, the ball is rolling

Your interpretation is... interesting.

To me (as a consumer and not the author), West is that archetype that means to do well, but in that desperate need to do well, she ends up doing terrible things. That lack of purpose and vision to do malice, in my mind, absolves her from being the villain. Sure, she fucked up and fucked up big, but that's what makes her so human. She's trying the best she can, and it's all going to hell in spite of or because of those best efforts

Meanwhile Diego is just a completely malevolent force. He sees an opportunity to A.) not be a victim and B.) come out on top and he seizes it with all the slow viciousness he squeeze.

You've made this rather alarming logical leap to making the Commander out to be some sort of... megalomaniacal douchebag. When I think she's really just a horrified child in a incredibly frightening world.

As for the ending, I know what I wanted to come across, but I'm interested in hearing more before I tell :)

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I will admit that it's hard to tell what West's real intentions were. It definitely looks like the messages selected were done so to incriminate her. Diego's and West's motives were basically the same: survive. I just think West's method, combined with the image or herself she presented to the crew, so perfectly embodied "evil mastermind" villains from every kind of media there is.

I suppose one could compare her to Zapp Brannigan - his intentions and methods are selfish, his "don't ask me - you're the ones who are going to be dying!" attitude is repugnant (and hilarious), and even his most well-intentioned actions are facepalm-worthy, and usually result in much death and destruction. But is he evil, or just a complete idiot? If you didn't know how much of a bumbling oaf he was, and all you ever saw of him were the wars and destruction he caused and his arrogant attitude, wouldn't he look like an evil person to you?

Really, West is a lot like a tougher and more intelligent (and hotter) Zapp Brannigan. I failed to mention in my first post that I'm sure West (nor probably her sister) actually believed she was doing the wrong thing - but again, that "I know exactly what I'm doing, and it's right and just" attitude is what makes her so scary... not that that's any different from Diego, mind you. I suppose the difference is that West is alone stewing in her own insanity and you don't know WHAT she's gonna do next, while Diego is offering you a chance at survival, and you know exactly how he's going to do it. I was rooting for Diego all the way, heh =p

I also failed to mention that "the system" is clearly to blame for all this - how these commanders-to-be were dragged down the competitive and ruthless path towards the goal of personal victory. I wouldn't say West is completely evil, but I will say that the situation, combined with her past, made her do evil things that appeared, to me, much worse than what Diego did.

Awesome picture =P

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Can someone please summarize the ending? Maybe I'm dumb, but I just don't quite understand what actually happened. (spoiler)

Diego's group at the end is 32 people, counting himself. Then there's Celine, of course. Were there any other people left alive? Why does Diego express surprise at being "Omega", when that's what his group was before, and there's no one left anyway? Did Celine basically just... kill EVERYBODY at the end? It doesn't make sense to me.

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